Stamp-affixer.



No. 874,720; PATENT@ DEG. 24. 19o?.

' G. MHCK.

STAMP Amma.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 9, 1907.

2 MEETS-SHEET l.

atroz/neej n PATENTED Das, 24,1907. E. @.YAU'GK STAMP AFPIXER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR, 9, 1907.

2 SHEBT-SHEET 2.

EDWIN c. YAUcK, or coLUnnUs, onto.

Paritair STAMP-Anrrxnn.

, Specification of Letters Patent.

` l i Patented Xiao. 2a, i207.

Appliman inea-March 9,1907. serial No. 361,560.

'To all whom it may concer/lz: j

Be it-lniown that I, EnwrN CYAUCK, a. citizen .ofthe United States, residing at Columbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Stamp-Afxers, of which the iollowing is a speciiication.

M invention relates to stamp afiiXers and has or4 its object the provision of a device of this character constructed in such manner that it may be very cheaply` manufactured and will be adapted to manipulate sheets of stamps, the invention comprising means for feeding the etamps between cutting edges, moisteningvtde stamps, cutting the individual stamps from the sheets and ressing said stamps into engagement with t e letters or other mail matter to which said stamps are to'be aiixed.

Ar further object of the invention .is the provision of a device of this character constructed in such manner that two stamps may be fed into position above the letter to be stamped before said stamps are cut from the sheet, by virtue of which construction it is possible tov stamp a letter-requiring -four cents postage ata single stroke of the plunger, hereinafter described.` Further objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description Awhich now follows.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a front elevation of a stam ailixer constructed in accordance with the invention, Fig. .2 is a rear elevation of 'said stamp affixer, Fig. 3 is an end elevation looking to Ward the left'in Fig. 1,' with the hand wheel of the .feed roller indicated .in dotted lines, Fig. 4 is a detail view of a ratchet bar and its actuating'and stop members hereinafter described, and,l Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the I stp member of the ratchet bar.

ke numerals designate corresponding parts in all of the igures of the drawing.

, Referring tothe drawing, the numeral 5 desi nates a base which may be oiA any desire form. Secured to this base by fastening devices 6, is a standard 7. This stand- 'ard carries at its'upper end a plate or tableS.

A plunger plate 9 is located beneath the plate 8 and rods 10 which are connected to said plunger pass through said plate.

A cap 11 is mounted'upon the up er ends of these rods and a spring 12 wlnci-bears betweenk said cap and the plateS, normally tends to hold the plunger plate 9 in an elevatedposition. A standard 1:* d* base 5 b a screw 14, innate-s in table 15, this tab e being adapted to receive the ietters that are to be stamped. en extension 1t rich is secured to the n carries a vertically movable sten member i?.

This stop member is best illu ated in Fig. 5. By referring to said iigure, it will be seen that it is slotted as at 18 and normally heldV in an elevated position by a fiat spring 19. Eins 20 which ass through the slot V18 retainr this stop mem er in position, saidstep `member serving a p ose which will be hereinafter described. l T ie plunger piate 9 has a reare Wardly extending portion 9 which averties the upper end of a U-shaped member 21. @ne et the legs of this lli-shaped member enters a eylinder 22 and forms a plunger within said cylinder, this plunger and cyrinder actin as-an air pum to force air through vthe exible tube 22 and nozzle 23 of an atoxniser 24,

said atomizer being adapted te receive a suitable liquid or moistening the stamps. The other arm of the U-sha ed member is bifun cated as at 25 and stra dles a crank arm 26 of a rod 27, said rod being journaled inthe standard 7 andin an ear, 28 which extends from a web 29. This web 29 is carried by the standard 7 and lies at right angles thereto 'the extension 16 projects. Y

A grooved roller 39 is ieurnaled in an ear 31 of the web 29. A second ,Wed roller 32 is lournaled in an ear 33 o, aie standard These two rollers lie in the same horizontal plane and receive the lower edge of a plate 34 Whichiorms a portion of a movable carriage, A third grooved roller 35 is journaled in an ear 36 of the table 8. The plate 34 (see Figs. 1 and 3) is longitudinally slotted at 37 and the metal at the upper edge of said slot is bent outwardly as at 38. The metal at the lower edge of the slot is bent out at right angles to the plane ci the plate 34 "as at 39, to ferma cutting edge which is adapted to co-aet with the edge lient the plunger plate 9. Secured-to the rear facenf the plate 84 is a guide and shieid late 411.

The endsor1 this guide plate 4r are ent-ups' wardly as at. 42 and iournale'cl in these bent up ends is a feedrollcr 43. This feed roileris mounted upon a shaft 44 and a hand Wheel lll() 45`secured tosaid shaft provides Ainea-ns for turning saidroller to feed the sheet of' stamps illustrated by the dotted line 4s in Fig. 3, across the cutting edge 39, 'sam sheet -o stamps passing between the relier and the i plate 41. A ratchet bar 47 is journaled in ears 48 which project from the rear face of the plate 34. An u turned lever 49 provides means for rocking .t e ratchet bar inthe ears as Will be hereinafter described. The rod 27 is provided with an upwardly extending portion 50 (see Figs. 3 and 4). upper end of this portion 50 by fastening devices 51 is a light spring plate 52 which is adapted to ride over the inclined faces 53 of the ratchet bar 417, as is illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 4 and to snap behind the shoulders 58 of said ratchet bar to move the carriage longitudinally. A coiled spring 59 which is coiled about the rod 27 normally tends to throw the extension 50 of said rod toward the right in Fig. y2.

The operation of the device is as follows:

I A sheet of stamps having been placed in the ositionl illustrated by the dotted line 46 in IFig. 3 and fed forwardly until the perforated line .between the first row of stamps andthe second row of stamps lies over the cutting edge 59, the operator strikes upon the cap 11 to force the plunger plate `9 downwardly. By referring to Fig. 2,-it will be seen that the notches of the ratchet bar 47, extend beyond the ends of the stamp sheet. When the carriage, therefore, is moved to its limit of movement toward the left in Fig. 2, the first stamp to be cut oil, will not lie beneath the lunger, but will lie in position to be sprayed by the atomizer when the plunger -11 is first depressed. The iirst depression of the plunger therefore will not sever aA stamp, but will spray andmoisten a stamp and move said stam into such position that it will be severed rom the sheet upon the next dev ression ofthe plunger. A letter is then p aced in position resting upon the table 15 and the plunger is again depressed. This depression ofthe plunger spraysa second stamp and.

cuts ofi the first stamp, said first stamp being pressed into engagement with the letter by the lungerplate 9. The longitudinal feed of te carriage is accomplished by the arm 50, said arm moving toward the left in Fig. 4, u on the depression of the plunger, through t e connections described and being thrown to the right by the spring 59 when said plunger is released. rihe cylinder 22 not only acts as an air pump upon the depression of the plunger, but. it acts as a retarding dev-ice to .prevent the carriage from moving too quickly when said plunger is released; The

'y spring 12 acts ,to forcefthe plunger plate 9 to its elevated position as soon as the o erator removes his vhand from the'cap 11, ut the forward movement ofthe carnage is slower by reason of the fact that the pump formed by the .cylinder 22 and its plunger, acts as a retarding element tothe action of the spring 59 in moving the carriage forward. This result is attained by reasonl of the fact that the end of the crank arm 26 underliesV the bifur- Secured to the cated end of one of the legs of the U-shaped member 21. Since the other leg of this LJ- shaped member enters the cylinder 22 and operates as a pump plunger therein, it follows that this U-shaped member will be retarded during its upward movement by the vacuum in the cylinder 22, the atmospheric pressure upon the top of the plunger tending to hold said plunger down until air finds its way to the cylinder through the atomizer.

.Retarding the upward movement of the U- shaped member 21 in this manner, of course retards the movement of the carria Ye, for the movementv of the carriage is control ed by the throw of the crank arm 26.

If it be desired. to place two stamps upon a letter, a handle 60 carried by the U-shaped member 21, may be grasped and depressed to feed the carriage forward the extra notch to lbring the extra stamp above the table 15, after which the depression of the plunger plate 9 will serve to sever these two stamps .and press them into engagement with the letter. The stop member 17 is provided for the purpose of preventing retrograde movement of the carriage during the time that the light spring plate 52 is moving across the inclined face 53 of the ratchet bar.

After 'a row of stamps has been severed from the sheet, the carriage may be returned to its limit of movement toward the left in Fig. 2, by the operator grasping the lever 49 and rocking the ratchet bar in the ears 8 to throw said ratchet bar out of engagement with the stop member 17 and the spring plate 52.

The retarding of the movement of the carriage'effected by the action of the plunger in the cylinder 22, prevents the carriage from moving forward quickly enough to cause the next stamp to catch upon the plunger plate 9, said plunger plate having ample time to assume its elevated position before the forward movement of the carriage is effected. From the foregoing description, it will be seen that simple andeflicient means are herein provided for accomplishing the objects of the invention, but while the elements shown and described are well adapted to serve the purposes for which they are intended, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction set forth, but includes within its purview such changes as lmay be made within the scope 0fthe appended claims.

What I claim, is,

1. In a device of the character described,

Athe combination with a supporting frame,

of a vertically movable p unger, means normally tending to elevate said plunger, said plunger being provided with a cutting edge, a longitudinally movable carriage, a cutting edge formed upon said carriage with which the cutting edge of the plunger cc-acts means carried by the carriage for feeding a .ln :i de ine of tbe elmreeler desrribed, tbe eon'ibinetien with e supporting frame, of e vertically movable plunger, ineens norn'ielly tendingto elevato seid pluiger, said plunger being provided with ai cutting edge, n l ngitudinellj; movable earring/e, e cutting edge formed upon said 'carriage with which the Cutting edge ol tbe plunger eo-m'ts, ineens eu'ried by tbe oerriuge for feeding e siieet of stamps between said eutting edges, :in ntomi/ier, an nir pump :uitueted by the depressi-on or" the plonger l'or spraying liquid from seid etrnniscer upon seid stamps, means net-usted ".j tlm .lunger for imparting it step by step novero 'it to tbe om inge, and a stop "1er for 'enting retrograde movement v tbe dir pump serving' to nent of tbe carriage.

tile eombinetion el 'i :t supporting freine, of e. vertically movable plunger, :t spring normadly tending to bold seid plunger in en elmffitted i, e. ioiw'tndinzilly movable eerrizge, comme' edg` formed upon seid` eerriwe ,vl ion err-tends tbe width of tbe sheet o be ont, e. 'feed rollereerried by :md adapted, 5.o leed paid, sheet l owing ego, en atoml f n, seid. ste-inps, end an nir pump :returned by the file-pression of the plunger and adapted to :ne air through seid ntomizer to spray seid stamps, seid air prima serving to retard tliemo'velnent of' the o. in e devine o? tbe elim-:roter described,

4. In a device of the character described, the combination with e supporting frame, of e vertically movable plunger, arspring normally tending to hold seid plunger 1n an eleva-ted position, a longitudinally movable Carriage, a cutting edge formed upon said carriage which extends the Width of the sheet of stamps to be cut, L 'feed roller carried by the carriage and adapted to feed seid sheet of stamps over seid cutting edge, means for moistening seid stamps, e ratchet bei" journaled for rocking movement upon seid carriage, e member netueted by the depression of the plunger and adapted to engage said ratchet bei' to impart a step by step longitudinal movement to the carriage, and e stop member for preventing retrograde movement of the carriage.

5. In e. device of the character described, the combination with e supporting frame, of

e vertically movable plunger, a spring norbandage, and e. member actuated by the depression oi the plunger and adapted to engege seid ratchet ber to impart e step by step longitudinal movement to the carriage. ln testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

EDWN C. YAUCK. lVitnesses L. ,ARL STOUGHTON,

A. L. PHELPS. 

